2023 October log

All in all, I had a lovely, calm, warm October and really enjoyed my favorite season! The weather was warm and all around lovely, which made my walks home from work particularly enjoyable <33

Autumnal Activities were plentiful. First of all, I decorated the little Halloween tree I got in a spooky package exchange some years ago (see photo 1) and baked two loaves of pumpkin bread (see photo 2). While I really dislike the taste of pumpkin overall - shocking, I know, but I only love pumpkins as a part of the autumn aesthetic - I loved the bread! It was a hit among my coworkers too.

As for my ~artistic pursuits~, I cross-stitched LOTS, made my first ever mini-zine for thegardenofmadeline’s spooky zine exchange AND tried my hand at pixel art by participating in the 32bit Cafe’s Halloween event. I was also going to make a bat-shaped pillow, but was struck by executive dysfunction mid-October, unfortunately :") Oh well, no one said I can’t make it during the other 11 months of the year! I’ll get to it eventually and I’m super excited about it.

I’ll elaborate on my October reads and watches below, but first I wanted to mention something that didn’t get its own section this time: old time radio! As a fan of both Old Hollywood and all things spooky, I love classic radio shows like Suspense where my two favorite things come together. Weird Waves is a really neat project hosted here on Neocities that has quite a lot of my favorite episodes from different shows! I’ll eventually make a list of recommendations, but for now I’m just dropping a link.

And oh, I almost forgot – Halloween itself was very warm, to the point where you could wear a costume outside and not freeze your ass off. I, however, stayed indoors and had a nice self-care evening where I burned my favorite candles, reread The Haunted Mask (peek my childhood copy in Russian in pic 4) and rewatched the Scooby-Doo Halloween episodes in order.

Crafts I made

Spiderweb coaster by u/MaiasaLiger (free pattern)

Pumpkin Season by MamaWitchXstitch (free pattern from her FB group)

Hallow Kitty Surprise by The Witchy Stitcher

Watching

Movies I watched:

🎃 Scooby-Doo! and the Spooky Scarecrow (2013) - one of the six (I think?) DTV specials from the mid-2010s, technically not a feature-length movie, but I'm counting it as one. Fun, has all the Halloween staples, but not a favorite. 3/5.

👽 Happy Halloween, Scooby-Doo! (2020) - I don't know how the wacky combination of Elvira, Bill Nye and that dude from Batman actually managed to somewhat work. This movie is still on the lower end of my personal Scooby movie rating, but I had fun watching it and that's all that matters! However, it's time the writers stopped treating Velma like this arrogant genius archetype. She's my favorite character, but she's SO annoying in these recent iterations of Scooby-Doo and I HATE it. Justice for Velma! 3/5.

🎃 The Old Dark House (1932) - a movie I've been meaning to watch for years and finally got around to this past Halloween! I enjoyed the Gothic feel, the creative editing and the plot twist near the end, but I guess I went in with higher expectations than necessary. A very fun and enjoyable watch, great for Halloween, but nothing to write home about. I wonder what I'll think of it if I rewatch it in a few years. 3.5/5

👽 Trick or Treat, Scooby-Doo! (2022) - listen, I'm as happy about canon lesbian Velma Dinkley as the next person, but I WISH the vessel for it was better. Other than lesbian Velma, I liked exactly one thing about this movie, and that's the tribute to the original show at the beginning. For some reason, the animation style was really bugging me. Like, why are the female characters suddenly so curvy and move their hips so unnaturally? Why are ALL characters moving so damn much?? Some of it may be just personal preference, I guess, especially since it's by no means the first time Daphne and Velma were sexualized a bit too much for a children's movie. Maybe I'm just not vibing with this style of character animation... Eh. Either way, it did affect my enjoyment. If I had to choose between TOTSD and HHSD, I'd pick the latter. 3/5.

Scooby-Doo episodes I (re)watched:

The Harum-Scarum Sanitarium was the highlight of the season! I don't think I ever watched it as a kid - I'm sure I'd remember it if I did, lmao. It features so many things I found absolutely terrifying as a kid. The creepy old sanitarium as a setting, the dark and stormy night, the "dead bodies" covered with sheets, the ghost of the mad doctor with a terrifying laugh and unnaturally long arms... Now I get why people praise it as one of the scariest episodes of the franchise! I'm definitely adding it to my Halloween rotation.

Reading

🎃 My Best Friend’s Exorcism by Grady Hendrix (4/5)
I had a lovely time reading this, but I felt a bit underwhelmed, to be honest. I guess my expectations were a bit too high after watching some horror booktubers gush about this book. Nevertheless, I loved Abby and Gretchen’s friendship, and the ending damn near made me cry.

👽 Fear Street Cheerleaders Trilogy: First Evil (3.5/5), Second Evil (3/5), Third Evil (3/5) by R.L. Stine
I didn’t read many Fear Street books growing up – I’m pretty sure these were the only ones I read. In fact, I never even read Second Evil because I only owned the first and third book. Moreover, a certain death in First Evil freaked me out so much (the one involving a steaming hot shower – iykyk) that I didn’t pay much attention to the rest :D So a lot of it was new for me on a reread. I enjoyed it very much, but I enjoyed the first one the most! It brought back memories of reading it as a kid <3

🎃 The Phantom Coach by Amelia Edwards (short story) (3.5/5)
A classic ghost story I listened to while cross-stitching. I enjoy classic ghost stories, especially ones written by female authors, and I enjoyed this short and sweet one. I also found out Amelia Edwards was likely a lesbian, so! Yeah!

👽 Uncle Montague’s Tales of Terror by Chris Priestley (4.5/5)
This was a pleasant surprise! I didn’t expect to like this book this much at all. I have pleasant memories of buying it (bought it last October at an autumn market), and the illustrations remind me of Edward Gorey. The stories were delightful and full of unexpected twists. I think there’s a second book too? Will be buying that one for sure.

🎃 The Haunted Mask by R.L. Stine (3.5/5)
A Halloween classic I haven’t revisited in years. I read the whole book on Halloween night, and what a good choice it was! So much Halloween atmosphere in one little book. I can't say it's my favorite Goosebumps book, but it’s up there!

Halloweens past

Past log coming someday hopefully!